Get Some Snow Crash

August 4, 2008 | Justin

Not to long ago a friend of mine suggested I read the book Snow Crash. When I asked what it was about he said “cyberpunk, internet people. You’ll like it.” On that highly descriptive recommendation I decided to head down to Barns and Noble and make a purchase — after my last experience with the library I thought it best to take some time off from the fine borrowing establishment.

I get to B&N and can’t seem to find Neal Stephenson in the fiction section. Perturbed, I ask the cute info-desk girl. Unfazed by my question she says that of course Stepheson isn’t in fiction because he’s in science-fiction. Now I don’t really understand why science-fiction is separated from the rest of fiction at B&N; there isn’t a separate section for tropical pirate-related fiction, or chase one clue to the next in museums around the world fiction. So why does sci-fi get segregated? Anyway, I found the book and take it to the counter to pay. The fine gentleman at the register rings up the book and then proceeds to tell me about the “unofficial sequel.” I told him I don’t know anything about this one so why should I be interested in the sequel. After listening to him for five minutes I was finally on my way.

Snow Crash takes place in the near future where the world has pretty much gone to pot. Cities are really just one franchise after another, inflation has run out of control, the government is basically for hire, and the mafia runs all pizza delivery. Yeah, you heard me. This is all Reality. Everyone in the story has a ’second life,’ if you will, in the Metaverse (the internet). They all show up on The Street represented by avatars — Stephenson wrote Snow Crash in 1992, I mean this guy was way ahead of his time.

So the book revolves around two main characters: Hiro Protagonist (for real, he’s pretty much the coolest character on the planet), a sword caring hacker/spook/pizza delivery boy, and Y.T. who’s a fifteen year-old skater-punk Kourier, which is basically a FedEx chick on a skateboard who ‘poons’ cars and skates the highway to make deliveries. This unlikely dynamic duo is on the hunt tracking down Snow Crash — which might be a new drug but it also might be a new Metaverse virus. Oh yeah, and the bad guy they’re hunting carries a nuclear warhead that’s wired into his head. If you’re not all of a sudden itching to read this book you might want to check your pulse.

The book is good. Real good. So good that one night I lost track of time and read till 2am, finishing it completely. Yeah, that’s right. I read a book in less than six months. I’m moving up. If you want to check this book out, don’t go to the library, don’t go to the store, buy it from Amazon and throw a few cents my way. Or, you know, don’t. I’ll never know.

Have you read Snow Crash? What’d you think about it? Isn’t Hiro the baddest guy on the planet? And what about that dentata? That thing is messed up! Let me know at the bottom of the page.

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books, reviews